Wasteworld
by Klaykid
Summary: The year is 2133, approximately one hundred and four years after 99942 Apophis impacted Earth in 2029. Staff Sergeant Clyde Brooks is the last survivor of his Ark to emerge into the harsh world that evolved from shattered remains. Hunted by the Authority, bounty hunters, and wasteland bandits, Clyde has to find a way to survive in this world turned wasteland.


**November 24, 2029**

**Fort Hood, Texas.**

Someday all of this will come crashing down. Our ivory towers and our castles made of sand will crumble at the shores of nature's powerful waves. They say one day, nature's revenge will take its course, charging through mankind with a rage not even the gods could understand. In the wake of the destruction, mankind will panic among themselves in a frenzy, unable to stand together, dying alone. The aftermath will shroud Earth in a cloud of dust, slowly reforming the world back to the state it once was. They all thought it was stupid, some sort of wisecrack about how horrible humanity is and how humanity has become. They used to say that the nerds will inherit the Earth. But that is a damn lie, well, a partial lie. It is the nerds who control the world, and it is the nerds who will destroy the world. In the wake of the aftermath, the strong will rise and rebuild society for the cycle to continue all over again. This is why the brigade combat team will be put inside a series of mega Arks, capable of housing one hundred people each. The best and the brightest will need muscle to protect and serve them.

There they walked, the one hundred chosen, down the line as if it were draped with a red carpet. The men and women on base all stared at them in silence with their weapons at ease, others with their hands at ease. There is no ceremony, but all wanted to view the future of mankind enter the Ark. Even when the last man disappeared into a white light and the metal door closed behind him, the soldiers from the 1st Cavalry down to the 3rd Corps watched the Ark in dead silence. While they took one last glimpse of the future, the men and women inside took one last glance at the past. All of this will end.

The Ark's motors spun rapidly pushing the container further and further into the Earth. The ground shook heavily underneath those left behind as the metallic structure disappeared. Many of those on duty and off remained for a few minutes before departing leaving behind the security detail. Word about the Eden Project will get out and people will not be very happy. One Ark in Utah was already broken into by the dissidents left behind. This tragedy will not happen on Fort Hood, it will not happen in the Great Place, it will never happen as long as these soldiers stay on post. But who knows what could happen during impact?

The soldiers on the inside of the Ark all prepared for the unknown. Mechanical limbs reached out from the walls and drilled in special components onto the Ark suits. They inserted tubs that connected into each man's blood stream, injecting thousands upon thousands of nanotrites into their bodies. They entered their respective stasis chambers and waited for the mist to put them to sleep. One soldier from the very top of the Ark hollered out, "may we live to fight another day!"

And the Ark erupted into a series of war cries. "Hooah!" they shouted. Each of them are ready to embrace the future. "Hooah!" But most of them wont live to see it.

"Hooah."

**Staff Sergeant Clyde Brooks**

**February 11, 2133**

**Ark 781t, The Great Place, Southern Wastelands**

"Internal disturbance detected. Cryogenic chambers compromised. Emergency nanotrite activation in 3... 2... 1..."

Clyde gasped in a breath of air with wide hazel eyes spiraling in all directions. He grabbed his chest, coughing up foul tasting fluids from his lungs onto the screen in front of him. In the mere couple of minutes he woke up, he had no idea what is going on, why is he in this metal coffin, and why did the screen in front of him flashed a warning. It wasn't until a figure flashed through the view screen that he came to his senses. _I am Staff Sergeant Clyde Brooks. I am a member of the United States Army 1__st__ Cavalry Division, BCT 1. I am twenty nine years old. I am a warrior._

Immediately his training kicked in as he moved right out of the cryopod and surveyed the area. Though his legs were shaky, they held for the moment. He continued to cough the fluids from his lungs while his eyes adjusted to the lights above him. He stood on the railings of a four layered Ark watching the chaos around him. Large fires consumed the entirety of the fourth story, cables were seemingly pulled out from the walls and the flooring exposing the delicate machinery underneath the plating. Many of the cryopods were still filled with their occupants. Nearly all of them looked dead with colour missing from their pale faces and eyes rolled up into their own heads. Clyde glanced down to the second story below him to see a few figures run out of the Ark. Clyde attempted to call out to them, but the mucus in his throat ceased any verbal communication.

"Current position, unknown. Remote location beacon, offline. Running full diagnostic tests."

EVE, the Ark's A.I read over a series of diagnostics that Clyde couldn't be bothered listening to. He stumbled about the catwalk holding his head as he attempted to get down the ladder. But really, all that happened was that he grabbed the rails and fell down to the second story where the exit is located. All around him were pods of dead soldiers. Interestingly enough, a few of them were empty. This could only mean that a few of the soldiers were released early, but where did they go? Clyde made his way to the diagnostic screen in the centre of the second platform. He placed his shaking palm on the advanced piece of technology.

"Verified, Staff Sergeant Brooks. "

"EVE, what is the status of the pods?" asked Clyde. His voice cracked at various points in his speech. His body hasn't adjusted well enough from one hundred and four years of disuse.

"Critical failure. Eighty-Five percent of Ark 781t occupants deceased."

"Fire detected on level four. Pods Omega One through Omega Twenty-Five compromised by high temperatures. One hundred percent casualty rate."

"Severe loss of power in level three. Pods Omega Twenty-Six through Omega Thirty, Omega Thirty-Six to Omega Fifty compromised. Eighty percent casualty rate."

"Severe loss of power in level two. Pods Omega Fifty-One to Omega Sixty-Five compromised. Sixty percent casualty rate."

"Breach detected in level one, Ark hull breached by seismic activity. Severe loss of power. Pods Omega Seventy-Six to Omega One Hundred compromised. One hundred percent casualty rate."

The rest of the pods held the dead being reduced to metal coffins protecting relics of the past. There is no point staying in this mausoleum reminiscing about those left behind.

"EVE, what is the status of the other Arks?"

"Running diagnostics. Connection failed."

There should be about forty other Arks out there in the area plus the one containing the scientists. Clyde shambled through the blinking red lights and the smoke filled hallway. He pressed the palm of his hand against the scanner. The weakness in his legs forced him to lean against the cold door as the chamber locks disengaged. It is mere seconds before his eyes can set themselves upon the new world. Civilizations that spent centuries building empires crumbled in a blink of an eye. All that we work for, in these many years, everything that seemed important dwindled away in clouds of smoke and dust.

The door slid open and Clyde fell to the snow below. The sheer cold felt like razorblades against his cheeks and the tips of his fingers that weren't protected by his gloves felt like ice cubes. He lifted his head up and could only see white. Nothing but the heavy snow fall and the blinding light from the sun above. Behind him, the Ark itself looked to be encased in a thick layer of ice.

"T-This a-a-ain't right," muttered Clyde. His teeth chattered intensely from the cold of the area. "Texas doesn't get this God damn cold..."

He stood up despite the pain growing in his joints and squinted over towards the horizon. He made out a few figures in the distance.

"Hey!" he called, "Saldonna? Mendez? That you?"

The figures immediately stopped and seemed to swerve around in an attempt to locate the origin of the noise. Clyde ran towards the group waving his arms over his head. It wasn't until he was fifty metres away from the men that he realized they weren't people from the Ark, but people heavily armed and armoured. One of them shouted something unintelligible to another and pointed his weapon at Clyde.

"Get down Ark Survivor! Get down on your damn knees!" one shouted as he cocked his rifle.


End file.
